[.uk] Special Places on Cape Cod and the Islands (ISBN 1889833517)

Book Description:
For over thirty years, nature writer Robert Finch has tramped the sandy, wooded reaches of Cape Cod's natural landscape. Over that time, the Cape has changed, as developers have encroached ever further on beach, marsh, wood, and meadow. The essays collected in Special Places were written in 1998-2002 to focus attention on the Cape Cod Land Bank Act, which authorized Cape towns to use a small portion of their property taxes to acquire open space and conserve it. Not a guide in the usual sense, the twenty-four pieces in Finch's new book are an invitation to explore and cherish some of these properties, from Bourne to Provincetown, and on Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard. Finch himself views this work as "an introduction, such as one might make between mutual friends with the hope of encouraging deeper acquaintance." While it is intended for those who make a home on the Cape, in season or year-round, Special Places will be treasured by all those who value the wildness that was and is New England, and by those who appreciate a master stylist.

Beautifully Written and Useful Nature Guide:
These essays should be included in any personal collection of books on the Cape, because they fill a gap by paying sensitive tribute to some of the smaller natural areas owned and managed by local conservation commissions and private conservation trusts. The brief essays are artfully developed by Robert Finch and boldly illustrated by Ellen Raquel LeBow. Each of the twenty-four 'special places' that are the book's subject are visited by Finch on foot and the commentaries are filled with information about the land and its vegetation. But the real value behind this reading experience lies in the way the reader is able to vicariously participate in the luxury of unhurried reflection with the writer as he interacts with these diverse areas. There is no reason to hurry a reading of this book in the way you would not gulp a glass of fine wine. Finch's essays are intended as an "invitation" to experience those "unanticipated intersections between the place and the visitor which cannot be found in trail guides". Finch experiences many unforced special moments and readers will find their own favorite 'places' even before the opportunity to act on his offer to search them out. The essays take us from the base of the Cape through to Provincetown and across the water to Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket islands. Directions are given to each of the natural areas described. A helpful listing of various presiding conservation commission addresses and telephone numbers is provided at the back of the book.